Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-09-10
WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE.


WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE.
All remember the experiment OF Frank
lin and DR.. Hook-cited 10 all school chill
dren-to Illustrate the notwithstanding
qualities Of black and white garments.
They spread cloths of like texture, one
black, the other white in the sunlight,
upon the snow Beneath the first the
snow melted rapidly, under the latter
slowly 1t seems quite as natural in the
heat Of summer for men to discard dark for
lighter-colored clothing, as to seek shade in
preference to the suns hot rays. Common
belief and practice confirms the accepted
theory of the non-scientific that white
clothing is cooler than black
Some confusion in the readers mind,
however, arises when he meets conflicting
statements by scientists on this subject.
DR.. Cyrus Edison, Chief Inspector of Food
in the Sanitary Bureau of New York, an
eminent physician and distinguished stu
dent CT science, in the Epoch, says:
1t is best to wear dark clothing in the summer
The black absorbs heat when it is in the suns
rays. On the other hand, the heat will pass out
through the black textures rapidly so that the
radiation of the heat from the body would be
much treer in person clothed in black than
white. This statement is forcibly illustrated by
the white coats of animals who live in the Arc
tic regions. They are clothed that way for the
reason that the color holds the heat and does
not allow it to radiate as rapidly as black.
The passage occurs in a series of articles,
entitled How to Keep Cool and Well in
Summer" In the same series and number,
and confronting DIR. Edsons article, is
paper by.Dr Willard Parker, equally emf
nent in medicine and science. In that
essay DIR. Parker says:
The best way to dress is to wear thin wooden
material next the skin, as little outside clothing
as possible, and that of light color. Dark
colors draw the heat and light ones repel it.
Between these two authorities what
path shall people in hot seasons pursue
Shall we take our cue from Edison and the
polar bear, or from Parker and experience?
The commonest understanding of the laws
Of heat proves to us that poor conductors
radiate heat least readily, and thus pre-
vent its escape from the body where it is
being constantly generated. So, too, poor
conductors prevent the entrance of heat
from exterior sources. 1t is law that
" the power of the body to absorb heat is
precisely proportional to the power of radi-
alton" So that clothing the body to keep
cool is more a matter OF texture of the
garment than of color The pol
ished surface of metal absorbs heat
less readily, and casts it off
more reluctantly than dark and
rough metal surface. So it Is
true, as Edison says, that the white furs of
the polar regions are heat retainers On
the other hand, linen is placed last in the
order of clothing for warmth Sir
John Leslie's experiments with
cube three sides being covered
with white, red and black velvet,
and one side left uncovered, proved when
the cube was filled with hot water, that the
radiating powers of the velvet surfaces were
equal. DR.. Bache instituted experiments
to prove that the radiation of heat from a
body is unaffected by color, so that in winter
all colored clothes radiate heat without
any material difference But it is demon
strated to every housewife that the maxi
mum absorbent quality is possessed by the
darkest and the minimum by the lightest
colors. Good absorbents of heat are gen.
orally good radiators also. 1t follows that
both the doctors are right if we adapt the
clothing to the condition-that is, for ex-
posure to the suns rays, which are of
higher temperature than the animal heat
of the body, we should choose white
clothing, but for dispersal of animal heat
when not exposed to the sun we should
wear black, as it more favors radiation than
white, the texture and roughness or
smoothness of the surfaces being equal.